Who's buying the Seattle tiny house linked to the 'Up' movie?

The broker who listed the famous tiny house in Seattle, which was squeezed between commercial buildings, spent the last month buried in attention, busy deflecting what he calls false announcements and eagerly fielding 38 "solid" offers.

Now, weeks after the April 20 bidding deadline, listing broker Paul Thomas thinks he has a buyer. But he won't say who it is. Yet

He will reveal that each offer was scored for its terms, dollar amount and -- something rare in real estate -- a proposed memorial to the defiant tiny house owner, the late Edith Macefield, who refused $1 million to leave her humble home. Developers in the Ballard neighborhood built around her.

"The party who submitted the best overall offer has signed a Purchase and Sale Agreement and has until late May to complete their due diligence," says Thomas of No BS Broker.

No other information was released about the pending sale of the 600-square-foot, two-story house, built around 1900.

The house, lived in for a half century by celebrated anticorporate crusader Macefield until her death at age 86 in 2008, has been the subject of protests, a documentary and countless pilgrimages.

"Interest in this property has been off the charts," adds Thomas. "Nearly 750,000 people viewed the virtual tour. People around the world really identify with Edith Macefield and what she stood for."

Some people believe her home inspired the tiny house in Disney's Pixar Animation Studios' "Up" movie. (Disney denies this house was the model for the animated one.)

A 2009 story in The Oregonian described the situation as: "Macefield's house is still there -- ceramic cats, dogs and pigs in the window, light bulb on over the front door, a can of uncollected trash out front beside her uprooted handicapped parking sign, buds emerging on the tree between her sidewall and the white plywood fence that still serves as the border between her property and progress."

Macefield left the house to her friend, Barry Martin, the superintendent of the construction project. The foreman sold the house in 2009 to a real estate investor whose plans to elevate the house 60 feet never materialized and the house went into foreclosure.

An investment management company in North Carolina, which took the property after a mortgage default last month, was accepting bids until April 20.

Supporters tied balloons to a chain-link fence that fronts the front door of the now-gutted house. The balloons are a nod to the mourning widower in "Up" who launched himself and his house into an escapist's adventure with balloons. In contrast, Macefield did everything she could to hold on to her property.

"I put over 800 balloons in the balloon dispenser in a three week period and I know others have been refilling it as well," says Thomas.

Thomas said in an April press release that the developer of the surrounding Bullard Blocks would like to incorporate the gap -- Macefield's house and backyard -- into the commercial compound.

Once the sale closes, Thomas will give more details about the buyer's plans for the property. "If the current buyer closes," says Thomas, "it will be an incredible next chapter in this David vs. Goliath story."